A/N: Remember, this is completely AU. Thanks so much for your reviews, they really do keep me writing. Please keep reviewing, there's nothing a writer likes more than knowing people read his/her stories and hearing the feedback. Thanks a bunch! And review so I can get the next chapter up.

Lorelai looked at Luke, "What do you need to tell me?"

"Uhh," Luke stammered. The diner wasn't exactly the place he wanted to have this conversation with Lorelai. Lorelai looked at him. "I love you?"

"Is that a question?" Lorelai asked, a bit of hurt in her voice.

"No, baby…it's not." Luke said. "I just don't really want to tell you what I have to tell you here."

"Why not?" Lorelai asked.

"Because… there's, there's grease and coffee and tables and chairs and Kirks and…" Luke trailed off.

"Oh," Lorelai said.

"Lorelai, I know you're hurting. And I want to explain to you why I don't want kids, but now… Now's not the time or the place. Tonight."

Lorelai groaned. "What time will you be home?"

"Around 11:30, is that okay?" Luke asked her.

"Yeah," Lorelai said. "I'll just go walk around town and go build a snowman or something."

Lorelai got up and started towards the door. She turned around, looked at Luke, and walked back. "I do love you," she said softly, kissed his forehead, and left before he could say a single word.

Lorelai sat on the bench in the park, reminiscing. For the first time in her life, Lorelai found herself missing her parents. Richard and Emily Gilmore had never been firsts on her priority list, but in the past few years she'd felt closer to them than ever. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder Lorelai thought. She thought how strange it was that she loved them more the years they were gone than the years she had spent with them. It had only been three years since Lorelai and Rory had put post-it notes on all of the things at her parents house. She hadn't realize at the time that it wasn't just Emily and Richard being morbid again. They had had a reason for the post it notes. Lorelai found her heart heavier than normal.

Richard had told the girls of his cancer three months later. The doctor had given him up to a year to live, but because Richard had waited four months to tell the girls, it wasn't a year they had left with him. Lorelai remembered hearing the news. They told her in true Gilmore style. At the dinner table, with salad forks clinging against their plates. All of a sudden, Richard had just said it. As Lorelai chewed the cherry tomato in her mouth she'd heard her father said, "Lorelai, Rory, I have cancer." He had then picked up his fork and taken a bite of lettuce. Emily had stared straight ahead, and Lorelai could tell she was trying desperately to be oblivious to the situation.

Rory had reacted, badly. She had gotten up and ran over to her grandfather, tears streaming down her cheeks. She had hugged him, right there at the dinner table. Emily had scolded her. She'd said, "Rory, don't hug your grandfather with salad dressing on your hands. You'll get it all over his suit." Rory had sat down quietly. She hadn't eaten another bite all evening.

Lorelai thought back to the funeral. He had left only 6 months after that night. She remembered the expensive dresses, the open bar, the appetizers. She remembered the tears she hadn't cried, and the tears Rory had. She remembered feeling so guilty because she couldn't cry for her father. She remembered Luke, all dressed up and trying his hardest not to be critical of the situation. She remembered her mother. She had worn black for the first time in her life. It was the first time she'd ever seen her mother cry.

It wasn't that Lorelai hadn't wanted to cry. And it wasn't that she hadn't loved her father. She had loved him very much, even if he hadn't quite understood her. He had just left so suddenly. He remembered a talk they'd had just a few minutes before he'd passed.

"Lorelai," Richard said, breaking her concentration. "Lorelai, look at me." She turned her head to look at him.

"I know I've never told you this, but I'm proud of you," he said softly. She looked at him, surprised. "You've done a good job raising Rory."

"She raised herself, Dad," Lorelai said in reply, almost embarrassed by her father's sensitivity.

"Preposterous," he replied. "That child would be lost without you. And you would be lost without her." Lorelai had looked down. "Lorelai, look at me."

She looked up at him. It took all she could muster to look into his face, the weak look under his eyes, his thin face, his dismal eyes. Except they weren't really that dismal anymore. She looked closer. He had tears in his eyes. Tears? When talking to her?

"I love you," Richard said. "I'm so glad you're my daughter." With that he had closed his eyes and his hands had turned cold. She looked back at him with tears in her eyes and squeezed his hands.

"I love you too, Dad," she whispered, as two tears fell down her cheeks. More were begging to come, but at that moment the nurse had charged in and Lorelai had let go of his hand and wiped her tears. She refused to cry in front of people.

Lorelai wiped her eyes. She felt so foolish, crying on a bench over the memory of her dead father. Emily had had a heart attack just a few weeks later, leaving her and Rory with great wealth and a bundle of material things. Somehow, though, the pudding bowl wasn't nearly as appealing as it had been when her parents were alive. Emily and Richard had left Rory the house, and Lorelai the money in their bank accounts. Lorelai had put it away in a special account for Rory's education, knowing that's what her parents would have wanted it to do. She knew it was more than enough to pay for Rory's school. She had hoped that maybe another grandchild of Emily and Richard's would have come to take the extra money.

Lorelai got up slowly and walked back to her house. She went upstairs and pulled out a shoebox of pictures that Lorelai had found after her parents had died. Pictures from their wedding, some of Lorelai's baby pictures that she hadn't found when she burned them because of her big head, and other notes that her parents had written each other when they were in school. She pulled one out.

Dearest Richard, it read.

I miss you more than I ever thought possible. I knew when you left for England last month that I would be utterly miserable without you here, but I never imagined it would be as bad as it is. I hope you are having a good time. I know you're studying like the Richard I know and learning all you can, but I really do hope you've taken time to travel around Europe and see all of the wonderful sights. I am anxiously awaiting your return. I can't wait to hold you and kiss you again. Oh, you know how I adore you. I hope to be married one day, have a family, and grow old with you. But, until then, I will kiss your picture before bed every night, and dream of our beautiful children. I love you. Please come home safely to me.

Love you.

Emily.

Lorelai smiled as she put the letter back in the box. Her parents had been so in love when they were younger. She knew they had loved each other as time had passed as well, they'd just learned to show it in a different way. She wondered if she and Luke were like that couple: the couple that was so disturbingly in love but somehow ended up showing their love through the small annoyances. She wondered if that's what marriage did for you.

She picked up Luke's picture and kissed it softly. Maybe he's just scared, she thought. He loves me, I know he does.

She was interrupted by a slight knock on the door. She opened it up and saw a teenage girl standing near the door. She had long, dark brown hair, bright blue eyes, and was dressed somewhat formally. She had a backpack over her shoulder.

"Hi," Lorelai said. "Are you looking for Rory? She's not here right now. I'm not sure where she is actually. Is she expecting you? She'll probably be back really soon."

The girl looked confused, "Who's Rory?"

Lorelai noticed she had a slight accent, but she couldn't quite place it. "Who are you looking for?"

"Lorelai Gilmore," the girl replied. "Do I have the right home?"

Lorelai recognized her accent as a mixture of British and slight French. She wondered where this girl had moved from. "This is she, how may I help you?" Lorelai asked.

"My name is Elizabeth Gilmore." The girl waited for Lorelai to respond with familiarity, but when Lorelai's expression didn't change, she went on. "It seems I might have some explaining to do, may I come in?"

Lorelai opened the door, "Tea?" she asked, trying to cater to the girl's home.

"No, thank you. I've never really been a tea fan. I would like coffee, if you have it."

Lorelai looked at her as she poured a cup of coffee. "So, you're from England?"

"Yes," the girl replied. "My mother was just killed in a car accident and I had nowhere to go."

Lorelai looked back at her. "I'm not putting this together."

The girl looked up at Lorelai. "I only have one relative left. My aunt, Lorelai."

Lorelai stared at the girl and dropped her coffee cup on the tile floors.